


You Don't Need Words To Speak

by JustAFantom



Category: Julie and The Phantoms (TV 2020)
Genre: Angst, Best Friends, Family, Family Fluff, Fluff and Angst, Good Friend Julie Molina, Hurt Reggie Peters (Julie and The Phantoms), Hurt/Comfort, Oblivious Luke Patterson (Julie and The Phantoms), Protective Julie Molina, Protective Luke Patterson (Julie and The Phantoms), Reggie Peters Has Bad Parents (Julie and The Phantoms), Reggie Peters Has a Sibling (Julie and The Phantoms), Reggie Peters Needs a Hug (Julie and The Phantoms), Reggie Peters-centric (Julie and The Phantoms), Sign Language, Soft Luke Patterson (Julie and The Phantoms), Soft Reggie Peters (Julie and The Phantoms), Supportive Julie Molina
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2021-03-17
Updated: 2021-03-17
Packaged: 2021-03-25 23:21:05
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,695
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/30096699
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/JustAFantom/pseuds/JustAFantom
Summary: Alex is having a bad day and ends up taking his frustration out on Luke. Reggie is collateral damage.Warning: Descriptions of a panic attack
Relationships: Alex Mercer & Julie Molina, Alex Mercer & Julie Molina & Luke Patterson & Reggie Peters, Alex Mercer & Luke Patterson (Julie and The Phantoms), Alex Mercer & Reggie Peters (Julie and The Phantoms), Julie Molina & Luke Patterson, Julie Molina & Reggie Peters, Luke Patterson & Reggie Peters (Julie and The Phantoms)
Comments: 3
Kudos: 82





	You Don't Need Words To Speak

Reggie wasn’t entirely sure why his brain had chosen that moment to break down. Sure Alex and Luke were going at it and fights had a way of sending him spiraling, but Luke and Alex always had little spats. They both had strong personalities that sometimes clashed. Reggie was used to it. Plus he knew that the boys loved each other to death and they had never turned their anger towards him. Alex and Luke bickering hadn’t caused Reggie to have a break down in years. Well, years before they died. This shouldn’t have been any different. And yet his lungs didn’t agree, because one minute his boys were going at it like an old married couple and the next Reggie couldn’t breathe.

His day had been pretty average with nothing that would have caused him to be particularly susceptible to a break down, not that he was aware of anyway. They had spent some time while Julie was at school working on adding and fixing different instrument parts to a song they had finished the lyrics to a few days ago. They had the volume pretty low but were forced to stop when Ray had walked into the garage and flicked off the stereo they had made sure to keep on to deflect suspicion. 

After their jam session had been cut off Luke decided to go see his parents and Alex took the opportunity to search the streets for Willie. Reggie wanted to hang with Ray for a bit. When the boys got back he was happy to see that Luke’s eyes weren’t as red and puffy as they had been after previous visits and his friend seemed happy. He wished he could say the same for ALex who, Reggie could tell at first glance, had not been successful in finding their friend. And after two months of searching it seemed like Alex was starting to give up.

  
Luckily Julie arrived home not too long after and they were able to start rehearsing, which seemed to take Alex’s mind off of the Willie situation, he was still severely stressed though and so when Luke began to start getting picky about the music he didn’t receive any calming comfort from his best friend. Instead Alex silently seethed as Luke continuously changed the same music passage 21 times (and yes Reggie was counting).

They all knew Luke was a music snob. He was very critical of everything including their own work and he had a tendency to strive for a better sound. While it definitely helped the band improve it also got in their way when Luke was feeling a little too indecisive. What they had sounded great, but it could always sound better to Luke and sometimes he didn’t quite know when it was time to move on. Alex or Reggie unusually helped. If they could get him to take a break or focus in on an area that sounded a lot worse for wear then they could get his one track mind to narrow in on something else. But Alex wasn’t in the mood to be of any help and the more he heard the same guitar riff and lyrics the more his mind unraveled. 

And then he snapped.

“Luke! Knock it off already. You are driving me insane!”

“I’m just trying to get this right! This isn’t working.”

“It sounded fine the first time we played it. And the second, and the third.”

“Fine isn’t good enough Alex. It needs to be perfect.”

Julie had glanced over at Reggie and they had shared an eye roll and a smirk. They had all had this argument with Luke at one point or another, it would fizzle and die as quickly as it had started and they would move on to a different song so that they could look back at this one with fresh eyes later. But instead of fading things just got worse.

“Why can’t you just give it a rest and let it work itself out.”

“Because some of us actually care about this band's success.”

“Oh, like I don’t? Dude, chill out. Stop being such a pretentious as…”   
  


“Chill out. Me? Say the guy that can’t go five minutes without having a panic attack over every stupid little thing. Grow up Alex.”

The breath left Reggies lungs in a rush as if he had been punched in the gut. They never used their mental health as a weapon. It was an unspoken rule. He slowly breathed back in.

“Grow up? Seriously Luke, you got some nerve. You’re such a freakin child! You ran away from home and instead of facing the consequences of your actions…”

Family… another unspoken rule being broken… another breath of air gone... but this time as he attempts to breathe back in it wont come. He keeps trying and still nothing. He feels the panic begin to rise and then a wall against his back. He hadn’t even realized that he had been moving backwards but the wall is at least something sturdy that he can rest against because suddenly his legs don’t feel sturdy anymore.

He doesn’t even register when Luke starts yelling in French, something that would normally have him in peals of laughter, or when Alex starts to yell back in German. Instead he looks between the guys and Julie hoping that one of them will realize the chaos that is he is going through only a few feet away from them. They were his family after all, the only people that he still has, surely they would be able to tell that something isn’t right. 

But they don’t, too wrapped up in their own little world to notice the hell that he is currently experiencing. He feels his chest start to ache; like his heart is trying to evacuate his body. What little strength that has been keeping him upright disappears as he sinks down to sit against the wall, his legs pulled up to his chest as if the danger is coming from some outside force and not from inside him.

And then miraculously Julie looks over to him, searching for an explanation for the sudden change in languages she had no idea the others even spoke. Her face changes from irritation and bewilderment to one of concerned panic in an instant.

He can’t hear Julie yelling at the boys but he can see them turn towards her and then over to him. The fight leaves their bodies as the protectiveness that both boys possess in spade takes over. They both sit down near him, Luke directly in front of him kneeling and Alex on his left sitting criss-cross. He doesn’t even realize that he’s been signing the word stop over and over again until Luke hands grip his tightly, stilling them and pulling Reggie out of his mind, if only a little bit. Alex starts to speak but Reggie's brain isn’t comprehending the words.

Gently pulling his hands from Lukes he tries to sign out  _ “I can’t. Everythings too loud.”  _ He fumbles a lot but they nod in understanding.

_ “You need to breathe Reg,” _ Luke signs to him slowly. But he can’t because the weight on his chest won't let him take more then a shallow breath which isn’t enough because his head is starting to feel really light. He tries to tell them as much but with his shaking hands and his jumbled up mind it’s frantic and rushed. His boys know him well enough by now to get what he’s trying to say.

_ “You can. Here, just follow my breathing.” _ Luke picks up one of Reggies hands and places it over his chest taking exaggerated breaths to try and get Reggie to follow along. It takes awhile but eventually the tightness starts to lighten up and Reggie is able to take full breaths. He can feel Julie’s hand on his shoulder rubbing gentle circles and hear the comforting words that she has been whispering to him. 

Alex has one hand in Reggies, the one that’s not on Luke’s chest, and the other on his lower back also rubbing small circles just like Julie is doing. 

Now that he can breathe again Reggie goes from panicked to embarrassed and tears start to well up in his eyes. He knows he was overreacting and he feels so bad that the boys and Jules had to pull him back from the edge. He wants to tell them as much but despite feeling grounded again he still can’t bring himself to speak.  _ “I’m so sorry. I shouldn’t have broken down like that. I know you shouldn’t have to put up with it. I promise I’ll try and do better…” _

“Whoa, whoa, whoa. Reg, slow down.” Alex grabs his hands and holds on tight while Reggie tries frantically to pull away.

“Reggie,” Luke grabs on tight to his shoulders to try and calm him down. “Reggie if you don’t stop you are going to send yourself spiraling again.” He nods and takes a deep breath before slinking back down.

“Plus I’m pretty sure I saw a sorry in there,” Alex says. “You have nothing to be sorry for. We love you and we will always be here for you.”

“Alex and I should be the ones apologizing.” Reggie starts to shake his head in protest but Luke nods his head a little with a half smile on his face. “Don’t even try to deny it Reg. Alex and I should’ve never started yelling at each other. This is on us. And we promise to try better in the future.” Luke just receives a small nod in return.

“Why don’t… Why don’t we take you up to my room Reg? You can get some rest. I think I can even make an exception to the ‘no ghosts in my bed rule’ just this once.” His lips quirk up into a tiny smile as he signs  _ okay.  _

It was something they had learned early on after the Orpheum concert. The boys now needed to sleep to function. They hadn’t been able to before and it was yet another confusing change in their lives. Although not unwelcomed. The boys missed being able to doze off into dreamland and they found that having something so normal back, in their otherwise strange existence, was comforting.

Instead of poofing they all walk out of the garage and into the house. Luckily Ray and Carlos are out grocery shopping because Julie knows that it would be really weird to see her supporting Reggie as they walk through the house and up the stairs.

She ushers him over to her bed and lifts up the covers for him to lie under. She turns to leave but Reggie grabs on tightly to her hand.

_ “Don’t go.” _ The boys translate for her and she squeezes his hand.

“Of course.” She sits next to him and he lays his head in her lap. The boys are hesitant but Reg motions for them to come over as well. Luke lays down with his head on Julie lap as well and wraps his arm around Reggie, tugging him in close. There’s no room left on the bed but Alex pulls a chair over and starts running his fingers through Reggie’s hair. 

He feels safe with the people that he loves. 

******

A few minutes after Reggie falls asleep Julie asks the guys to meet her downstairs. They all quietly untangle themselves from Reggie and then the guys poof downstairs. And then Julie comes storming down the stairs full of too much rage for someone so small. 

“What the hell did I just witness?”

“Um… Reggie had a panic attack?”

“Yeah I kinda got that part Luke.”

“Look Julie,” Alex steps forward with his hands up in surrender. “We know we screwed up okay. It got way out of hand. We… we never meant to hurt Reggie.”

Julie lets out a sigh. “I know. Okay, I know you guys would never hurt him intentionally. But it doesn’t matter, okay. What matters is I have a sweet ghost boy sleeping in my bed after his two best friends just about ripped out each other's throats. From what I understand Reggie didn’t have the best home life when you guys were alive.” Luke and Alex glance at each other and then back to her and give a little nod. “You guys are the closest thing he has to a solid family and while it may be tempting to try and kill each other, trust me I’m restraining myself from doing so right now, you have to put Reggie first.”

“We know Julie. We promise that we will do better.”

“Good. Now can one of you explain what exactly I witnessed. Because I couldn’t follow almost anything that was being said.”

Chuckling Luke sits down on the couch and Julie follows suit while Alex takes the chair right next to Luke.

“Reggie had a younger brother that was born deaf. His whole family learned sign language. And sometimes when he gets stressed things get so overwhelming that he can’t bring himself to talk and sometimes it gets so bad that he can’t really hear either. We figured out he could still sign and it became a good way to communicate. Alex and I aren’t fluent by any means but we’ve picked up some.”

“But you guys are bilingual.”

“My grandma was born in Quebec and raised my mom speaking both French and English. She wanted to carry on the tradition and so she raised me to speak both as well.”

“And you speak German?”

“I went to a fancy private elementary and middle school that taught German.”

“You guys are just full of surprises.”

There’s a moment of silence as they all take a deep breath.

“Julie, it might be a while before Reggie starts talking again.”

“Alex is right. This… I don’t remember the last time that he had a panic attack that bad. It typically can be a few hours but… damn it.” Luke stands abruptly and starts to pace the floor. “I never should have said anything about your panic attacks.”

“And I never should’ve commented on your family situation.”

“But you know that it… I mean Reg does have problems with his parents but… I said that as he was having a panic attack.”

“Luke calm down.” Alex tries to put a hand on his shoulder to calm him down but Luke brushes it off.

“I basically called him weak as he was breaking down!”

“Luke…” Julie's voice is firm but doesn’t break him out of his self deprecating rant.

“What kind of friend am I!”

“Luke,” it’s barely a whisper but hearing Reggies voice coming from the foot of the stairs is enough of a surprise to halt Luke in his tracks. “It’s okay.”

“It’s not Reg. And I am so sorry.”

“I know that you didn’t mean it. Either of you. Although I feel like your apology should be directed at Alex not me.” And suddenly he is surrounded by three people who seem bound and determined to squeeze the life out of him. (The death out of him?)

“Does this mean the band is still together?”

They all let out a bit of a laugh.

“Of course you dork. We’re family. We aren’t going anywhere.”

************

It’s a week later when Julie walks into the kitchen after getting home from school. Reggie is hanging out with Ray as he cooks dinner.

“So mija.”

“Yes papi?”

“Your teacher called today to ask if it was okay for you to transfer out of your study hall and into sign language.” Reggie’s face is stunned and all he can do is stare at the two people in front of him.

“Yeah, I asked if it was a possibility. I’m a few weeks behind but I know I can catch up. Is that okay?”

“Of course. It’s just… I thought you liked having a period to work on homework.”

“Well I guess I realized that some things are more important.”

The grin that breaks out on Reggie’s face is worth the questioning she gets from her Aunt later that night.


End file.
